The Appeal Court has sentenced a Thai pro-democracy activist to 1 year and 7 months without suspension on a royal defamation charge over his speech given at a protest on 13 February 2021.

Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) reported that the Appeal Court upheld the initial prison sentence given to Thai activist Nawat Liangwattana after he was charged with royal defamation, destruction of property, blocking a public road, violation of the Emergency Decree, violation of the public cleanliness law, and using a sound amplifier without permission in connection with his participation in the protest on 13 February 2021.

He was indicted on 8 December 2021, after the public prosecutor ruled that calling for monarchy reform, demanding that the King must be under the Constitution, and questioning how the royal family uses taxpayers’ money is not an expression of opinion in good faith and can damage King Vajiralongkorn’s reputation.

On 26 April 2023, the Criminal Court sentenced Nawat to 3 years in prison for royal defamation. He was also sentenced to 2 months in prison and a fine of 2000 baht for destruction of property, and a fine of 1000 baht for using a sound amplifier without permission, although TLHR noted that the maximum fine as stated in the law on sound amplifiers is 200 baht.

Due to his guilty plea, the Court reduced his total sentence to 1 year and 7 months in prison and a fine of 1500 baht, but did not suspend his sentence since he had committed the same offences many times.

He decided to appeal the case to the Supreme Court and is now being detained at the Bangkok Remand Prison pending a request for bail.

Nawat faces 18 charges for joining pro-democracy protests, including four counts of royal defamation. This is the first time he has been found guilty and sentenced to prison. He was later granted bail using 100,000 baht as security, which the Court will confiscate if he violates his bail conditions.

He was an active activist during the mass protests in 2020-2022 and was prosecuted for political expression in 20 cases, with seven already concluded. Of the 20 cases, six included royal defamation charges.